Association board agrees to possible amendment

RANCHO SANTA FE — During the latest Rancho Santa Fe Association board meeting, Director Fred Wasserman presented an in-depth overview in why amending some of the Associations bylaws and articles of incorporation should be up for consideration.

Wasserman made it perfectly clear that no amendments were being approved on that day. What was up for consideration was approving the process. And the board did.

While Wasserman serves as the chair in the Governing Documents Committee, other members with legal background include Judge David Moon, John Blakely, Mike Licosati, Kris Charton, and Allen Finkelson.

One of the leading efforts behind this development is to make changes to the bylaws and articles which would allow for a better and fairer voting system in the Covenant.

According to Wasserman, owners of building sites will be entitled to two votes; and, condominium units paying the Association’s annual dues shall be entitled to voting rights.

“For example, right now there’s roughly 790 people that have two votes. There’s 500 plus people that only have one vote,” he said. “Some of those 500 people actually are entitled to two votes. They were never reclassified.”

Wasserman then noted that there are 425 individuals who are not registered in the Association’s voting system.

“When we’re through here, we’re proposing that everybody who owns a piece of property here, and whose deed we can verify ownership, will have two votes,” he said.

And if any changes in a household take place such as divorce, the proposed amendment will keep that two vote rule.

Losing a vote in cases such as this Wasserman called absurd.

“The intent is that the voting goes with the property,” he said.

Members of the Covenant can expect a mailing of these “projected revisions” by the middle of October. A 45-day window for review and feedback will also be offered.

During this timeframe, a town hall meeting has been slated for Oct. 22 at 6:30 pm.

Wasserman also pointed out why condominium owners were part of this proposed voting amendment, describing it as another issue.

“You condominium people pay association dues. Some of the condos in here are $2 million. I mean why should condo owners be discriminated against?” Wasserman told the board and members. “We can’t find any reason or any rationale for that.”

So the proposal, Wasserman said, would be that condo owners receive the same voting privileges as other homeowners inside the Covenant.

Wasserman also wanted everyone to know that any bylaw changes being made would be done so they are consistent with the Davis-Stirling Act.

“The Davis-Stirling Act is the law that regulates the operation of Homeowner Associations,” he said. “So these will be technical changes for the most part to make our bylaws comport with the law.”

The 45-day timeframe and town hall meeting is an opportunity to exchange ideas.

“Once all the comments are in, then we will have an opportunity to look at those comments,” he said. “Then the committee itself will sit down, take the input from the community, and then make a recommendation to the board,” he said.”

Following this review process, it’s anticipated that any amendment changes will be presented at the Association’s Dec. 3 meeting and then funneled to a Covenant member vote in 2016.

Wasserman said any final amendment changes following the community wide vote would be effective in July 2016.

To keep apprised of current meetings regarding this issue, contact the Association for updated times and dates.